In network computer systems, a plurality of computers are connected together and one or more of the computers generally performs the function of a network server. A network may be established through the hard-wired interconnection of a plurality of computer terminals in a local network or on a wider scale such as the Internet or world wide web which may include telecommunication links. In any case, the network server acts as the central control unit for providing access to files, programs and program execution to the individual computers connected within the network. In general, a networked computer terminal will "logon" to the network and obtain access to a network server. The network server will download a homepage presentation on the user's terminal which may include and audio and video effects. From the initial screen display, a user may designate any other "address" to get to another "location" or screen display. The user may also select from a plurality of functions which may be presented for user selection on the initial display.
Generally, almost all screen displays include designated selection areas on the screen where the user may point a selection device such as a mouse-controlled pointer, and "click" on the designated screen area to invoke a displayed function, or menu for other function selection options. When the homepage or selection screen is downloaded from the server, many small programs or "applets" are also downloaded at the same time to the user's terminal memory. Those applets are associated with different ones of the designated screen selection areas and are executed when a user makes a selection or clicks on one of the selection areas on the display. The applets, in turn, may call for the presentation of a new user interface screen, or a new or different section of a portion of the screen, such as a pop-up menu or other graphical user interface (GUI) which may be within a framed or windowed sub-section of the main homepage.
The GUI presentation is typically designed and customized to present an attractive display and facilitate use of the computer interface by a user in making subsequent selections or executing selected functional aspects associated with the GUI presentation. The GUI display is typically displayed as the end result of the execution of a program downloaded from the server in response to the user selection of a designated screen area. The design and display of the GUI screen is typically determined in advance and "hard-coded" by a programmer.
In modern networks, the availability and use of multimedia files is increasing. Multimedia files include, inter alia, audio files and video files. Typically, a user may select or "click-on" a graphic or hypertext area on a selection screen to have the selected audio or video file presented at the user terminal by a player device. The present example will demonstrate the disclosed methodology relative to a video file although it is understood that corresponding methodology also applies to audio and other multimedia file presentations. Multimedia files are of varying length and may require from seconds to hours or longer to play through to the end of the file. When a user initiates the playing of a video file for example, and then at a later point in time, while the video is still playing, wishes to pause the presentation, the user may select and invoke a "pause" function. Later, when the video is to resume, the user may select and invoke a resume function. However, if the user needed to logoff the network before the video had completed playing, or if the system needed to be shut-down for any reason, the video file would have to be re-played from the beginning of the file after the next log-on by the user. In view of the availability of longer video files from servers in networks, that process is often inefficient and cumbersome.
Thus, there is a need for an improved multimedia file presentation methodology which is effective to facilitate and accommodate frequent multimedia file accesses directly to previous points of departure from multimedia file presentations without requiring a serial playback from the beginning of the particular multimedia file. There is a further need to provide a means by which a specific file position may be subsequently accessed directly, even after a network disconnect or a user terminal shut-down.